GDRPHD - Doctor of Philosophy

The Doctor of Philosophy is the most advanced research degree in the study of religion. The program has a distinctive scholarly ethos characteristic of the Drew Theological School faculty, who bring a creative, relational, and transformative edge to their scholarly work. The program consists of disciplinary and interdisciplinary coursework, comprehensive examinations, and a dissertation.

Disciplinary and Signature Areas of Study

PhD students in the Theological School declare two areas of study, one disciplinary and one in a signature area:

Disciplinary Areas:

Theological and Philosophical Studies: Emphasizes philosophical, constructive, pluralist, comparative and systematic approaches to theological themes and supported by the philosophical traditions of pragmatism, phenomenology, process and poststructuralism along with critical theories of religion.

Bible and Cultures: Explores the Bible’s rhetoric, its material and political contexts, its interpretation in diverse cultures, its representations of group identity and cultural Others. Students cultivate a biblical hermeneutic that is historically informed, theoretically infused, politically attuned and contextually relevant, and engage such contemporary resources as literary and cultural studies, postcolonial theory, gender studies and queer theory, ecological studies, racial/ethnic studies, and theological and pastoral studies. 

Social Ethics: Focuses on the social role and moral implications of religion and Christianities in relation to structures of oppression, struggles for liberation, visions of restored wholeness for individuals and communities, and planetary thriving. Engages methods, histories, and theories of social ethics that respond to human experience and nature as well as social science, theological, cultural studies, and transdisciplinary scholarship that include a concern with praxis.  

 Signature Areas: 

Africana and Black Studies and Religion: Explores African and African-derived religious practices and ideas, philosophical and intellectual traditions, and relationships among African ancestored persons in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. Examines issues of nationality, race, sexuality, and gender with a specific interest in the manifestation of these issues as African-American, African, and African Diasporic.

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Religion: Examines the diversity of expressions and constructions of gender, sex, and sexuality in religious texts, doctrines, practices, and communities, as always experienced in relation to class, race, ethnicity, age, ability, social location, ecological context, and cultural and national identity. Engages theoretical and methodological insights of feminist and womanist thought and gender and queer scholarship that include the lives, voices, and perspectives of women and gender and sexual minorities in order to expand justice practices and thought.

Ecology and Religion: Examines the mounting planetary crisis of environmental degradation, mass extinctions, and climate change in relation to religious practices and discourses. Pursues ecological justice and planetary health in their intersections with struggles of race, economics, coloniality, gender, and queerness. Rethinks Earth with respect to theories and theologies of animality, space, matter, ethics, food, politics and ecospiritualities. 

Decolonial and Critical Theory: Explores an assemblage of interdisciplinary strategies that aim to decenter, deconstruct and decolonize Eurocentric paradigms of thought. Critical theory as recently unfolding in decolonial, (post-)poststructuralist, and new materialist perspectives, brings an intersectional pluralism of social, political, and ecological contextuality to theoretically undergird enquiry into the particularity of faith and the multiplicity of religions.

Concentration: Given Drew’s history and identity as a United Methodist seminary, PhD students in the Theological School may also elect to complete a concentration in Wesleyan/Methodist studies focusing on the U.S. and global Wesleyan/Methodist history, theology, practices, and organization. 

 Professional Development

The Ph.D. program provides several opportunities to develop skills, knowledge, and wisdom for careers in teaching, research, and leadership in college, university, and seminary-level education. In addition to completing colloquia, workshops, and trainings, students also work as research assistants, teaching assistants, and in academically-relevant positions within the Theological School and University.